WHO, UNICEF show concern over growing polio cases

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WHO, UNICEF show concern over growing polio cases

Representatives of World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children Funds (UNICEF) have shown concern over growing cases of polio in the country.

Addressing a Press Conference held recently at a local hotel in Karachi, Dr. Hussein A Gezairy, WHO Regional Director for Eastern Mediterranean Region along with Dan Rohrmann, UNICEF representative said Pakistan was responsible for many polio cases in the country, adding, the donors could only support but the major work was to be done by the government itself. There were a total of 44 cases discovered this year in the country, 12 in Sindh, 18 in Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and 11 in Balochistan and others in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he informed.

Emphasizing on the need to access the people at the grass roots level, he said that the comprehensive eradication of the disease was crucial for the future welfare of the country and its people. He said that polio is still problem in the country and was not yet close to being eradicated.
On a positive note, he highlighted that the government managed to eradicate the P2 type of polio, and also there had been no recorded case of the P3 variety over the last six months.

He said that the actual problem was in the implementation of the micro management plan. He observed that the menace of polio could not be eradicated unless 95 per cent of coverage occurred at the Union Council level. There were areas where 97 per cent coverage was achieved, but the new cases were emerging from localities where the campaigns scope was low.

He also blamed last year floods for its failure to meet polio reduction targets, as the government was over burdened with flood relief for months after the disaster ravaged one-fifth of the country’s land mass.

2017-04-26T12:35:25+00:00